Armstrong’s Lifetime Ban Would Not Be Reduced

The Cycling Independent Reform Commission, which was created by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to investigate doping in cycling, would not be recommending that the lifetime ban imposed on Lance Armstrong is reduced.

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after he was found guilty of using banned performance enhancing drugs. The decision was accepted by the world governing body of cycling, the UCI. The disgraced cyclist was hoping that the three-man panel would be more sympathetic after he provided evidence to them on two occasions.

A few days back, the CIRC submitted its report to the UCI, and it is widely believed that it has not recommended that the ban on Lance Armstrong be reduced. According to some media reports, lawyers representing the cyclist placed specific limitations on what the Cycling Independent Reform Commission could ask that was provided as the reason for the stance CIRC have now adopted. However, the legal team of Armstrong denied that any restriction was placed on the commission in their interviews with the cyclist.

Armstrong recently lost a $10 Million Arbitration Ruling and he along with Tailwind Sports Corp was ordered by the arbitration panel to pay $10 million in a fraud dispute with SCA Promotions. The panel called the case an “unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy” that covered up Armstrong's use of performance enhancing drugs. Tim Herman, a lawyer for Armstrong, said that the ruling would be overturned by a judge as it is contrary to Texas law.

SCA Promotions paid about $12 million in bonuses during Armstrong’s career to Lance Armstrong and Tailwind Sports Corp. Armstrong won seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1998 to 2005. His victories were later stripped after USADA found him guilty of using banned performance-enhancing drugs. The cyclist later admitted to using the drugs during a televised interview in January 2013. The company sued Armstrong to get its money back after these revelations. The case was sent back to the original arbitration panel of the independent chairman, Richard Faulkner; the SCA selection, Richard Chernick, and Ted Lyon, Armstrong’s pick.

Ted Lyon remarked there is no Texas case or statute that allows for this type of sanctions motion nine years after the award was given. Herman said this award is unprecedented. Lyon also attacked SCA by writing that the arbitration panel had found in 2005 that the company to have engaged in selling insurance in Texas without a license that could have exposed it to more than $22 million in damages under the original claims of Lance Armstrong. Lyon wrote the final decision by the panel reminds me about the ‘do right rule’ and said it doesn’t matter what the law is, let’s just do what is right and also remarked that arbitrators, like judges, don’t have that luxury, and the panel exceeded its authority by indulging itself here.

In the new decision, the majority (2-to-1 decision) wrote perjury must never be profitable and added that Tailwind Sports Corp. and Lance Armstrong have justly earned wide public condemnation and that is an inadequate deterrent and went on to add that deception demands real, meaningful sanctions. The arbitration majority said the penalty of $10 million was for lies of Armstrong and his efforts to intimidate or coerce witnesses in the previous case.

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